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The Coptic Orthodox Church has denied media reports that it had reached an agreement to establish a church in Saudi Arabia, which would have been the first built since the modern Kingdom was founded in 1932.

It released a statement yesterday after the MidEast Christian News agency reported that an agreement had been reached between the Coptic Pope Tawadros and the Saudi ambassador in Cairo, Ahmed Kattan.

A source in the region told The Tablet that Pope Tawadros had attended a meeting at the Saudi Embassy in Cairo in which he made a request for the Saudi Government to permit the construction of a church in Saudi Arabia because many Copts work there.

The source said the ambassador told him he would pass on the request to King Abdullah.